Canon IXUS 90 IS Review

The Canon IXUS 90 IS a stylish digital camera that should fit quite easily into a pocket. It has 10 megapixels, a 3x optical zoom lens and a large 3 inch LCD screen.

The IXUS 90 IS is one of the best quality pocket cameras on the market. You can count on very good picture quality. The build quality of the camera is also impressive. There are also a few options that are not always standard on this type of camera. These include image stabilisation, additional flash features such as red eye correction and time lapse movies.

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Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
Here we have a bright photo. It works well for all the main test points, such as sharpness, contrast and colour. There is a slight loss of definition on the front boat where it is caught by the sun.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
Almost all digital cameras find this test the hardest when it comes to focusing. The IXUS 90 IS does well and produces one of the sharper shots. There is a touch of purple fringing in places. This is where a thin purple line appears along the edge of bright objects where they have been caught by the sun.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
There is plenty of detail showing in this shot. Throughout my tests I have been impressed by the contrasts in the scenes and the way the camera is able to pick out the differing colours.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
Sharpness levels are good across the picture. There is a slight fall off towards the edges as you would expect, but in terms of sharpness this Canon digital camera is right up at the top level when it comes to sharpness throughout all my tests.

Outdoor Portrait
I would say this picture is that bit sharper than I am used to seeing. I have used the face detection setting and this gives the camera a bit of extra assistance when it comes to focusing and lighting the face.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
This is another very sharp portrait shot. I also feel the brightness and colours work well.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
Although I like all the portrait test shots, this one is my favourite. It has a natural feel to it and the IXUS 90 IS does well despite the indoor lighting conditions being tougher.

Colours
The colours produced by this range of cameras sit somewhere in the mid range. I like the way they look and although other brands may offer stronger colours the colours on display in my test shots are vivid enough for me.

Macro
In my view if you are looking for a compact digital camera that can take a good quality close up shot then Canon digital cameras in general tend to have the edge. As you will see from this test shot they take sharp, clear photos.

ISO 400 and ISO 1600
The only times I would adjust the ISO rating is if I wanted to freeze motion or if lighting was poor and I was out of the range of the flash. The IXUS 90 IS works well enough up to ISO 400 when the light is o.k., but if you go beyond that level or if lighting is poor then noise becomes a big issue and reduces the overall quality of the shot.

Overall
I have no major complaints about any of my test pictures. The IXUS 90 IS is above average when it comes to picture quality.

Shutter lag times are 0.43 seconds for a single photo and 9.75 seconds for five. With flash on times increased to 1.18 seconds for a single shot and 16.73 seconds for five. I would like to have seen faster times for the photos with flash.

You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.

The IXUS 90 IS is an attractive pocket camera. It is a fairly typical silver rectangle, but has sloping areas on the front.

91.6 x 56.8 x 20.9mm

155g

Lithium ion (NB-5L). Canon supplies both a battery and charger as standard. They estimate you should be able to take up to 330 photos in between charges.

A 32mb SD card comes with the camera. I was able to take 10 shots before this was full. The IXUS 90 IS is also compatible with SDHC cards.

Click here to save money on SD cards..

Good. If you start off by using this Canon digital camera in automatic mode you should have no problems. After that you can take some time to get to know the camera in order to get the most out of it.

Style - build quality - picture quality - excellent LCD screen

Shutter delay with flash could be faster

The Canon IXUS 80 IS is more or less identical to the IXUS 90 IS. It has a smaller LCD screen, but comes with a viewfinder.

The Canon IXIS 90 IS is another high quality addition to the range of Canon pocket cameras. Although these cameras tend to be towards the top end of the price bracket they do offer than extra bit of all round quality.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menus

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Canon IXUS 90 IS